Rob Finch/The OregonianMayor Sam Adams on Wednesday said his 2007 proposal to turn West Burnside Street, pictured here at NW 18th Avenue, and Northwest Couch Street into complementary one-way streets "comes at too high a price tag." The $80 million proposal is now off the table, the mayor said Wednesday.

Instead, citing the high cost of the $80 million price tag on the original plan, Adams this week introduced three different proposals for addressing safety and traffic flow along the busy thoroughfares.

"It was a good proposal," Adams said of his controversial 2007 push to make the two westside streets complementary routes. "The money hasn't materialized."

Adams, who made Burnside-Couch improvements a talking point in his 2008 mayoral campaign, now wants to look at what he characterizes as a "stripped-down" version of the 2007 proposal -- without a westside streetcar -- that would cost $18 million, according to the city.

He also wants to study two other possibilities. The first would change West Burnside and Northwest Couch Street, now both two-way streets, into one-way roads running eastbound and westbound respectively. To maintain Couch Street's pedestrian-oriented atmosphere as a shopping destination, car traffic would be reduced from two lanes to one, thereby limiting the number of cars driving on Couch.

The other option would remove one of four lanes of vehicular traffic from about 15 blocks of West Burnside to create space for left-turn lanes, buffered bike lanes, wider sidewalks and additional on-street parking.

Left-turn lanes could be a boon to drivers and businesses. But an email from a city employee working on the street redesign says that change could also have drawbacks. "The three-lane option would do the most for pedestrians but it would create havoc for vehicle movement," Bill Hoffman wrote in a May 25 e-mail to a transportation adviser in Adams' office.

For his part, Adams says any conclusions about the proposals' possible impact on traffic are premature. "We still need to finish our work," Adams said.

A 2010 city of Portland memo identified Adams' 2007 proposal for fixing the westside streets as "the best solution for addressing the complex mix of problems" on the two roads. Identifying a new way forward likely will require a lengthy public process and political salesmanship on the part of the mayor. A final proposal could head to Portland City Council in the next three to six months, Adams said Wednesday.

Michael Powell, owner of Powell's Books, was a fan of the 2007 transportation overhaul. "I can be persuaded there's a better idea," Powell said Wednesday. "So far, I'm not persuaded."